Medaille Trust asks future government to re-commit to eliminating modern slavery and human trafficking

Medaille Trust, a leading Catholic charity in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery, is calling on all political parties to commit with a renewed focus to eliminating modern slavery. 2025 will mark 10 years since the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act. Despite the efforts that have been undertaken since but there are still an estimated 122,000 people in modern slavery in the UK today and the support systems for potential victims are overdue for review and reform.

Medaille's campaign calls for

- A thorough review of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) to re-evaluate and redesign what support victims truly need to achieve long-term safety, hope and purpose.

- A commitment to clear the existing backlog which sees victims often waiting over three years for a resolution of their case. We wish to see this done within a year with a particular focus on those who have been waiting the longest for a decision.

- The suspension of Sections 22-29 of the Illegal Migration Act and Section 63 of the Nationality and Borders Act which propose to remove support for many victims of trafficking and subject others to removal to Rwanda.

- Giving survivors the right to work while they are in the NRM, so that they can be supported to develop viable and useful skills for their futures. This will empower them in their recovery, make them less vulnerable to re-exploitation in future, prevent them becoming de-skilled while awaiting a decision and contribute to the UK economy.

- Work with CPS and law enforcement to stop the trend of modern slavery being a low-risk, high-profit crime. Few traffickers are currently convicted and sentences are frequently far too lenient. Survivors rarely receive compensation from those who exploit them and companies that benefit from exploitation rarely face much consequence.

Full details are on the Medaille website: www.medaille-trust.org.uk/news/what-does-medaille-want-to-see-from-the-next-government-on-modern-slavery